Secret of Silicon Valley's Single Source

[Ursa major]

Spruce Pine, a modest, charmingly low-key town in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina, is at the heart of a global billion-dollar industry.

Although this Mitchell County community calls itself the Mineral City, with just 2,000 residents one could dispute the city status. But when it comes to minerals, Spruce Pine has definitely undersold itself.

The jewellery shops, highlighting local emeralds, sapphires and amethysts, hint at the riches. The mountains, however, contain something far more precious than gemstones: they are a source of high-purity quartz.

This ultra-pure mineral is essential for building most of the world's silicon chips - without which you wouldn't be reading this article.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Silicon Valley's secret recipe
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[skeptical]

But for how long?

They may have the best quartz, by quartz won't cut it for the new generation chips yet to come, since further miniaturisation based on silicon chips permits too much power leakage. New systems currently under research probably will not be based on silicon.

The Wired Campus - Finding Alternatives to Silicon Chips - The Chronicle of Higher Education

 

[Nik]

NextGen may be on synthetic diamond, possibly mono-isotopic: Insulates superbly, strong as steel, conducts like silver...